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Ratnakar Ramkrushna Matkari, writer and film producer

18May

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India, Noteworthy, Profiles

Ratnakar Ramkrushna Matkari, writer and film producer

Ratnakar Ramkrushna Matkari ‑ a Marathi writer, a movie and play producer/director, and a self-taught artist from Maharashtra, India – died on 17 May 2020 in Mumbai, having tested positive for COVID-19 the week before. Matkari was born on 17 November 1938 in Mumbai. After earning a degree in economics from Mumbai University in 1958, he worked at the Bank of India for the next twenty years. Since 1978, he devoted his time exclusively to writing & production/direction of movies and plays. He was married to artist Pratibha Matkari. Matkari's first work, the one-act play Wedi Manase, was presented in 1955 on All India Radio in Mumbai. His play Pahuni was presented the next year at another venue. Matkari worked as a columnist for newspapers and magazines in the 1970s. He wrote ...

18May

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Bangladesh, Noteworthy, Profiles

Anisuzzaman, writer and activist

Anisuzzaman a Bangladeshi academic of Bengali literature – died on April 17 2020 due to COVID¬19. Anisuzzaman was an activist who took part in the Language Movement (1952), participated in Mass Uprising (1969), and took part in the War of Liberation (1971). He was a member of the Planning Commission to the Government of Bangladesh during the Bangladesh liberation war and a member of the National Education Commission set up by the government after liberation. He was inducted as a National Professor by the Government of Bangladesh in 2018. Anisuzzaman (18 February 1937 – 14 May 2020) was a Bangladeshi academic of Bengali literature. He was an activist who took part in the Language Movement (1952), participated in Mass Uprising (1969), and took part in the War of Liberation (1971). He ...

Mohammad Riad Hussain Ismat, writer and diplomat

14May

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Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Mohammad Riad Hussain Ismat, writer and diplomat

Mohammad Riad Hussain Ismat ‑ a Syrian writer, critic and theatre director – died on 13 May 2020. Ismat served as Minister of Culture of Syria from 3 October 2010 to 23 June 2012. Ismat studied English literature at the Damascus University and graduated in 1968. In 2000, he became Rector of the Academy of Dramatic Arts, after years of teaching. In 2003, Ismat became Director General of Syrian State Radio and Television, then held the post of Syrian Vice-Minister of Culture. In 2005, he was appointed Ambassador to Pakistan and in 2010, Syrian Ambassador to Qatar. In October 2010, Ismat was appointed as Minister of Culture, serving in that post until 23 June 2012. From 2013 to 2014 he served as Buffett Center Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University. Ismat has directed more than...

10May

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Brazil, Noteworthy, Portugal, Profiles

Abraham Palatnik, artist and inventor

Abraham Palatnik a Brazilian artist and inventor whose innovations include kinechromatic art – died from COVID-19 on May 9, 2020 at the age of 92 in Rio de Janeiro. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. He is considered a pioneer of technological art in Brazil for his early use of mechanical systems and light. He exhibited some of his works in the First Biennial of São Paulo in 1951. Palatnik was born in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, lived from 1932 to 1947 in Israel before settling in Rio de Janeiro, where he spent most of his adult life. Two works by Palatnik are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Ann Katharine Mitchell, cryptanalyst and psychologist

8May

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Noteworthy, Profiles, United Kingdom

Ann Katharine Mitchell, cryptanalyst and psychologist

Ann Katharine Mitchell a British cryptanalyst and psychologist who worked on decrypting messages encoded in the German Enigma cypher at Bletchley Park during the Second World War died on 11 May 2020, aged 97, in Edinburgh. She tested positive for COVID-19 shortly before her death. After the war she became a marriage guidance counsellor, then studied for a Master of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. She worked at the university's Department of Social Administration and wrote several academic books about the psychological effects of divorce on children including Someone to Turn to: Experiences of Help Before Divorce (1981) and Children in the Middle: Living Through Divorce (1985). Ann Williamson was born in Oxford on 19 November 1922, to Herbert Stansfield Williamson...

Ricardo Coimbra de Almeida Brennand, businessman, engineer and art collector

8May

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Brazil, Noteworthy, Profiles

Ricardo Coimbra de Almeida Brennand, businessman, engineer and art collector

Ricardo Coimbra de Almeida Brennand a Brazilian businessman, engineer, and art collector in the state of Pernambuco died on 25 April 2020, aged 92, at Real Hospital Português in Recife, due to complications from COVID-19. In 2002 he founded the Ricardo Brennand Institute, which includes the world's largest private collection of Frans Post paintings, and was the 17th-highest-rated museum in the world according to TripAdvisor in 2014. Brennand was born to Dulce Padilha Coimbra and Antônio Luiz de Almeida Brennand in Cabo de Santo Agostinho. He and his family relocated to Recife in 1930, where Brennand completed his secondary education at Colégio Marista from 1937 to 1942. During this time he learned fluent German and English, owing to his British ancestor Edward Brennand who immig...

Dr Burton “Bud” David Rose, nephrologist

8May

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Medics, Profiles, United States

Dr Burton “Bud” David Rose, nephrologist

Burton "Bud" David Rose an American nephrologist and the creator of the UpToDate medical software application died on April 24, 2020, due to complications of COVID-19. Rose was a clinical professor of medicine at Harvard University. He also held positions at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He was co-author of Clinical Physiology of Acid-Base and Electrolyte Disorders; Pathophysiology of Renal Disease; and Renal Pathophysiology: The Essentials. Rose created the first version of UpToDate in his house in 1992. It was released on floppy disks. His work (creation of UpToDate) has influenced the modern practice of medicine more than any work in the current generation of practicing physicians. Ma...

Richard Coram, Dubai TV and radio presenter

5May

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India, Noteworthy, Profiles, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom

Richard Coram, Dubai TV and radio presenter

Richard Coram, Dubai TV and radio presenter; Pix credit Gulf Business Former media person Richard Coram, who was popular through his radio shows and news anchoring in Dubai-based media, died of Covid-19 in the UK. Barely in his late 50s, the long-term Gulf resident and former radio show host on Dubai FM92, was also a celebrated news reader on the city's popular Channel 33. Coram and his wife Padma had also launched an event management firm, Talent Brokers. It's said, the company brought large-scale concerts and shows to the UAE, including Lionel Richie, Elton John and Rod Stewart. As a broadcaster he is remembered as someone who just had that natural ability and was warm and likeable. Both Coram, along with his wife Padma, were socially well-known, pioneering the live enter...

5May

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Macedonia, Noteworthy, Profiles

Dragan Vučić, Composer and singer

Dragan Vučić ‑ a Macedonian composer, singer, philantropist and TV host – was suffering from lung cancer. His condition complicated after he had contracted COVID-19 in April 2020. The 65-year-old died on 4 May 2020 in the infectious clinic in Skopje. His most famous song is "Odlazim (Nikom nije nocas kao meni)", translation: "I'm going away (Nobody feels like me tonight)". Dragan was born in Skopje. Dragan composed numerous pop hits such as Svirete Ja Zajdi Zajdi, Angeli Me Nosat and Kaži Zvezdo. In the 1990s he was the lead singer of the pop-folk band Koda. He composed the song Make My Day, chosen to represent Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. Later in his career he started hosting various tv shows on Kanal 5.

5May

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Brazil, Noteworthy, Profiles

Aldir Blanc Mendes, author and lyricist

Aldir Blanc Mendes a Brazilian author of crônicas and lyricist died of complications of COVID-19 on 4 May 2020 at the age of 73. He co-composed many songs with singer-songwriter João Bosco, guitarist Guinga, and others. A trained psychiatrist, eventually he quit medical practice and devoted all his time to music. Elis Regina recorded several of his songs, most notably "O bêbado e a equilibrista". Another song of his is "Resposta ao tempo" (with lyrics by Cristovão Bastos), a ballad that became one of Nana Caymmi's most famous songs, and which was recorded by many other musicians thereafter, amongst them Milton Nascimento and Aldir Blanc himself. Blanc's work 1972–1987 was analyzed by Charles A. Perrone in Masters of Contemporary Brazilian Song MPB 1965–1985 (U Texas P, 1989)....